Herb-Drug Interactions: Fact Fiction or Somewhere Between
The Plant Path: Herbalism, Medical Astrology & Spagyric Alchemy
Sajah Popham
4.8 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you ever felt anxious about giving herbs to someone who's already taking medications? Many herbalists feel hesitant to help people taking prescribed drugs because of concerns about herb-drug interactions. But how much do we really need to worry about this?
Herbs can impact how drugs are absorbed and metabolized, which can actually be helpful at times, but very risky at other times. By understanding how herbs and drugs interact, you can feel confident in providing your clients with the care they need, even if they're taking medications.
In today's blog post, you'll learn:
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The 3 main ways herbs interact with drugs
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How herbs can impact the metabolism and absorption of drugs
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The exact method I use to avoid herb-drug interactions
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My top recommendations for herb-drug interaction resources
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ABOUT THE PLANT PATH
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The Plant Path is a window into the world of herbal medicine. With perspectives gleaned from traditional Western herbalism, Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Alchemy, Medical Astrology, and traditional cultures from around the world, The Plant Path provides unique insights, skills and strategies for the practice of true holistic herbalism. From clinical to spiritual perspectives, we don't just focus on what herbs are "good for," but rather who they are as intelligent beings, and how we can work with them to heal us physically and consciously evolve.
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ABOUT SAJAH
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Sajah Popham is the author of Evolutionary Herbalism and the founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, where he trains herbalists in a holistic system of plant medicine that encompasses clinical Western herbalism, medical astrology, Ayurveda, and spagyric alchemy.
His mission is to develop a comprehensive approach that balances the science and spirituality of plant medicine, focusing on using plants to heal and rejuvenate the body, clarify the mind, open the heart, and support the development of the soul. This is only achieved through understanding and working with the chemical, energetic, and spiritual properties of the plants. His teachings embody a heartfelt respect, honor and reverence for the vast intelligence of plants in a way that empowers us to look deeper into the nature of our medicines and ourselves.
He lives on a homestead in the foothills of Mt. Baker Washington with his wife Whitney where he teaches, consults clients, and prepares spagyric herbal medicines.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the plant path, your window into the world of herbal medicine, with Saja and Whitney Popham, founders of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. |
| 0:24.6 | What is the number one fear of every practicing herbalist? |
| 0:30.6 | Well, I would say it is probably the fear of doing harm to someone that you're trying to help when you give them plants. |
| 0:38.1 | And I would say probably second in line is that the herbs that we give to someone simply don't |
| 0:44.3 | work. And when we consider someone that is taking one, two, 10, 20 pharmaceutical medications, the risk of harming someone with the plants that we give them drastically increases. |
| 1:01.0 | Or does it? |
| 1:03.0 | I'm Sagea Popp. I'm founder of the School of Evolutionary Herbalism, and I want to talk today about herb drug interactions. |
| 1:11.9 | Is it a fact? |
| 1:13.1 | Is it fiction or is it really somewhere in between? |
| 1:17.4 | I think this is a really important area of discussion because, you know, a lot of people these days are taking prescription drugs. |
| 1:27.4 | And there's a lot of prescription drugs days are taking prescription drugs and there's a lot of |
| 1:28.7 | prescription drugs out there and some people are taking a lot of them. And I think there can be |
| 1:35.1 | this really big fear as herbalists or maybe not fear, but that the very least intimidation |
| 1:42.1 | of giving someone medicinal plants when they are taking |
| 1:46.4 | prescription or sometimes even over-the-counter medication. But I would say the prescription |
| 1:51.3 | ones are a little bit more, you know, edgy, I think for most herbalists. And but is that fear |
| 1:57.0 | warranted, right? Like, do we really have to be overly cautious, overly paranoid when someone |
| 2:04.9 | is taking pharmaceutical drugs and we want to give them herbs? So I want to talk about this topic |
| 2:10.3 | of herb drug interactions. It's something I get asked all the time by my students and just by |
| 2:16.4 | people in the herbal community. |
| 2:19.1 | So what's an herb drug interaction? |
| 2:21.4 | Well, the idea here is that when someone is taking a medication and they introduce |
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